NBCDFW.com: The mayor of Flower Mound is receiving a lot of attention after declaring 2014 the “Year of the Bible.” Flower Mound Mayor Tom Hayden made a proclamation during a regularly scheduled city council meeting in the Dallas-area suburb last month decreeing that 2014 will be the “Year of the Bible.”

Beaumont Enterprise: The court is reviewing a recent round of briefs filed in the case. Beaumont Attorney David Starnes said the court ruled it didn’t need to hear oral arguments and is instead basing its decision on the briefs.

The Texas Tribune: The Texas Department of State Health Services finalized strict new abortion regulations on Friday, claiming that none of the 19,000 public comments on the rules provided evidence that they are unconstitutional.

Houston Chronicle: Harris County Republicans, led by the county’s GOP chairman, sued the City of Houston Tuesday over Mayor Annise Parker’s extension of health and life insurance benefits to all spouses of legally married employees, including same-sex couples in November.

Texas Pastor’s Council: In response to a decision several weeks ago by Houston Mayor Annise Parker to recognize same sex “marriages” from other states and extend employee benefits to them, Houston Area Pastor Council has initiated a legal challenge (Pidgeon and Hicks v. Parker) that resulted in a Temporary Restraining Order being placed on her action.

Fox News: “The Choose Life grants will enable recipient organizations to build on the good work they are already doing and help adoption become a reality for even more children and families in the Lone Star State,” Abbott said.

Montgomery Advertiser: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that a new Texas law requiring physicians at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at local hospitals could go into effect, overruling a lower court’s decision. If that law sounds familiar, it’s because the Alabama Legislature approved a bill last spring creating that same requirement for this state’s five abortion clinics.

AP: The long-simmering battle over teaching evolution in Texas boiled over at a late-night meeting, as the Board of Education extended preliminary approval of new science books for use in classrooms across the state but held up one biology text because of alleged factual errors.

Lyle Denniston at Constitution Daily: The court has never abandoned the constitutional line that a women has a right to end a pregnancy prior to the point at which a doctor finds the fetus to be “viable” – that is, capable of living outside the womb. But if a restriction is seen as a regulation of the abortion right, to fulfill some official policy or interest of the state government other than moral hostility to abortion, then it has a much greater chance of withstanding a constitutional challenge.

Fox News: The court by a 5-4 vote denied a request by Planned Parenthood to block a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which allows key parts of the Texas abortion law to stay in effect while the case plays out.

Washington Post: The Texas National Guard has moved a step further in its defiance of a Pentagon policy toward gay service members by refusing to process military housing allowances for same-sex couples, according to a gay-rights group.

LifeSiteNews: Ironically, it turns out that women are much more supportive of the fictitious “war on women” than men. This seems counterintuitive, at least to those immersed in radical feminist politics. However, when one considers how abortion on demand alters the fundamental sexual dynamics between men and women, it starts to make sense.

AP: But the 18-year-old, who grew up female but now identifies as male, and his mother say that his school district is refusing to allow a picture of Jeydon in a tuxedo to appear in the yearbook because it violates “community standards.”

LifeSiteNews: The participants unanimously came to the conclusion that: “Physicians performing office-based surgery must have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, a transfer agreement with another physician who has admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, or maintain an emergency transfer agreement with a nearby hospital.”

MySanAntonio: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office urged the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to allow the state to continue enforcing strict abortion restrictions. Abbott’s office said that clinics seeking to stall the state law haven’t proven that the requirements post an undue hardship for women.

AP: The sheriff of Houston’s Harris County has adopted a sweeping policy designed to protect and guarantee equal treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender inmates, including allowing transgender individuals to be housed based on the gender they identify with instead of their biological sex.

American-Statesman: In a brief filed late Tuesday afternoon, lawyers for Texas urged U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to allow the state’s abortion regulations to remain in effect while an intermediate court weighs the constitutionality of House Bill 2.

SCOTUS Blog: Arguing that doctors and clinics are exaggerating the impact of a new abortion control law on women in Texas, state officials on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to allow the state to continue enforcing that law while an appeals court reviews its constitutionality.

Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick at Slate: It’s been a day of body blows for reproductive rights. On Thursday night, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision to temporarily block a provision of the omnibus Texas abortion law that requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

Religion Clause Blog: Indiana, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia, however, are requiring their National Guard members to go to a federal military base if they want to obtain the new ID.

LifeSiteNews: As many as 12 abortion facilities will not be able to perform any abortions starting today, after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court and ruled that all the provisions of a Texas pro-life law could go into effect immediately.

Fox News: A panel of judges at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said the law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital can take effect while a lawsuit challenging the restrictions moves forward. | Opinion

The Texas Tribune (includes audio): A federal judge’s decision this week to block parts of Texas’ strict new abortion law was just the first step in a legal fight that could drag on for months, or even years, meaning that the courtroom drama will play out against the 2014 governor’s race.

CBN: In May 2013, Hardin County Judge Steven Thomas granted an order permitting the Kountze cheerleaders to continue displaying run-through banners with Bible messages at sporting events. But now the Kountze School District has appealed the ruling, essentially claiming the cheerleaders are part of the government

Bloomberg: Texas asked a federal appeals court in New Orleans for an emergency order blocking a U.S. judge’s ruling yesterday in Austin striking down some state abortion restrictions as it seeks to enforce new limits on the procedure that were set to take effect today.

AP: The only abortion clinic in a 300-mile swath of West Texas can resume taking appointments Tuesday, after a federal judge struck down new restrictions that would have effectively shuttered it and at least a dozen other clinics across the state.

The health and safety of women is more important than an abortionist’s bottom line–including the bottom line of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion seller. The court was wrong to say that Texas can’t protect women by requiring an abortionist to have privileges at a local hospital where they can be treated in the event of complications.

KVUE.com: The next fate of the most controversial anti-abortion legislation in Texas history is now in the hands of a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel is expected to reach a decision by Monday, after arguments wrapped up Wednesday morning in a lawsuit filed by abortion providers seeking to put parts of House Bill 2 (HB 2) on pause pending the suit’s appeal.

Fox News: A Texas inmate wants to connect to the spirits of his dead parents, but prison officials have prohibited him from possessing a lock of their hair he says he needs for a Native American religious ritual.

Boston Globe (AP): A federal court challenge to new limits on abortions in Texas may hinge on complicated legal questions created by a myriad of U.S. Supreme Court rulings over the past decade on when a state may ignore medical considerations and limit the procedure, attorneys in the case argued Wednesday.

Daily Caller: Republican Sen. Ted Cruz received an eight-minute standing ovation upon his return to Texas this past weekend, despite an extended, hostile campaign from Democrats and the mainstream media to portray him as a dangerous extremist.

Bloomberg: New Texas laws requiring abortion doctors to have local hospital admitting privileges and allowing only physicians to dispense pregnancy-ending drugs will harm women, a doctor testified at the start of a trial.

Houston Chronicle: On behalf of the federal government, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has filed a lawsuit against a Texas recreational vehicle park for alleged discrimination against a transgender woman.

Austin American-Statesman: A University of Texas study indicates that more than 22,200 Texas women would be prevented from obtaining an abortion in the next year if stricter regulations go into effect later this month, a court filing shows.

WorldNetDaily: Evangelical Christian airmen at Lackland Air Force Base are facing severe threats and retribution for their religious beliefs and some personnel have been ordered to publicly express their position on gay marriage.

LifeNews: Leading abortion advocacy groups today filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the pro-life law Texas passed over Wendy Davis’ infamous objections that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Governor Rick Perry signed the bill into law in July after weeks of debate in the state legislature and passage of the bill despite an unruly pro-abortion mob.

Dallas Morning News: On Friday morning, the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood said they will announce “a new joint effort in support of women’s health.”

Politico: Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis and her advisers have begun informing influential Democrats that she intends to run for governor in 2014, according to multiple sources familiar with Davis’s conversations.

Waxahachietx.com: Attorney Gary Bennett, Pastor Dan Cummins and Dr. Craig Mitchell would like to invite all local pastors, and anyone else interested in understanding the freedoms and liberties concerning church, to the Freedom and Power from the Pulpit event. It has been scheduled from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, at the Waxahachie Civic Center . . . He is a national leader in the Pulpit Freedom Sunday initiative working with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF formerly Alliance Defense Fund) of Scottsdale, Ariz.

MySanAntonio.com: City leaders expressed little surprise Wednesday that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has backed off a threat to sue San Antonio over its recently bolstered nondiscrimination ordinance.

Texas Public Radio: In response to the decision of several state National Guard posts to not process federal benefits for same-sex military couples, the ACLU has started a petition that already has thousands of signatures online.

“Texas may not violate the federal civil rights of eligible spouses of military personnel,” the lawyer for an LGBT legal group writes. The group is asking the Texas Military Forces to reverse their decision on the issue in the next 10 days.

Star Telegram: Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht was named new chief of the state’s highest civil court Tuesday, pleasing conservative leaders but troubling a watchdog group that has criticized the Republican over his record and alleged ethics violations.

Houston Area Pastor Council: With reports today (“Parker Says City Should Pass Non-Discrimination Ordinance”, Houston Chronicle) that Mayor Annise Parker would support the aggressive ordinance that provoked citywide controversy in San Antonio, an inter-racial, inter-denominational coalition of pastors long active in the city declared they are not surprised. In addition, speaking for Houston Area Pastor Council, Pastor Willie Davis said that attempts to equate sexual behavior, “gender expression” and “gender identity” to race are not only wrong but offensive.

Viralnova: A group of cheerleaders in Texas have been facing scrutiny over something simple: their football signs. The cheerleaders of Kountze began making religious football signs after attending cheer camp, hoping it would lift the spirits of the players and encourage them during the games. Soon after the pep squad started making the new signs with Bible quotes on them, the school received a complaint. It was from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist activist non-profit organization.

Religion Clause Blog: On Thursday, the San Antonio, Texas city council adopted, by a vote of 8-3 an ordinance (full text) expanding its non-discrimination bans to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status.

Baptist Press: “The ordinance is a cloudy and confusing collection of poorly thought out and conflicting statements that could have been more clearly and cleanly handled by simply including a broad religious liberty exemption to protect the free speech and religious liberty rights of both individuals and organizations that have religious objections to the requirements mandated by the ordinance,” said Kelly Shackelford, president of Liberty Institute, based in Plano, Texas.

Hardin County News: Beaumont attorney David Starnes, who represents a handful of the district’s cheerleaders, issued a written response on Thursday to the ACLU’s filing in which he accused the Kountze school district of partnering with the organization to prevent the girls from using Scripture on football run-through banners.

SA Current: Alliance Defending Freedom, a “legal ministry” that advocates for conservative Christian values, holds a conference call for opponents of the NDO, presenting a script for the opposition to follow and encouraging call participants to make San Antonio City Council’s phones “ring off the hook.”

Religion Clause Blog: In Masterson v. Diocese of Northwest Texas, (TX Sup. Ct. Aug. 30, 2013) (opinion of court; concurrence; dissent), the Texas Supreme Court held that Texas courts should use only the “neutral principles of law” approach in deciding church property cases. Since the lower court had used the deference to hierarchical authority approach, its decision was reversed.

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Family Studies: Last week, the New York Times chronicled the dramatic case of two babies switched at birth. Two decades ago, two mothers came home from a hospital in southern France with the wrong daughters. As the girls got older it became increasingly clear that they had little biological resemblance to their parents. Indeed, the father of one girl left her mother because he was suspicious of the girl’s origins.

Fox News: So you can imagine Jeff’s extreme displeasure when organizers of an Alabama barbecue competition ordered him – along with other competitors to take down the American flags hanging from their barbecue trailers.

Life News: For the second time in two years, pro-abortion West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has vetoed a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy on unborn babies who studies show can feel intense pain.